By Dr Takavafira Zhou
Harare, Zimbabwe (News of The South) – Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Cain Matema, has continued to be misled into believing that dismissal threats can jettison incapacitated teachers from their homes into schools. This surely is an oxymoron. How can an incapacitated teacher be suddenly capacitated by threats? Zimbabwe has no capacity to dismiss more than 100 000 teachers unless Matema is bent on cold and calculated educational vandalism.
*Minister Matema* must be adviced to engage teacher unions as a matter of urgency. His homeletic bellicose and referral to NJNC negotiations has no traction. We heard this before in February 2020 after the Victoria Falls escapade with Apex but since then gvt has not been engaging. We have lost trust in infinite negotiations and urge Minister to engage teacher Union leaders in order to share notes. Minister Matema’s acclimitisation to self pollination as opposed to cross pollination of ideas is a threat to national education system. Let it be clear to Minister Matema that he can only ignore our advice at his own peril and sadly with disastrous effects to our education system.
*We appeal to Parliamentarians* to realise that teachers have genuine grievances that can be resolved through engagement but the Minister prefers to offer empty threats and is fast becoming the problem of all our problems and the evil of all evils. If Minister Matema dismisses one teacher, he will burn.
*The other culprit is Civil Service Commission* our employer, that constantly misinforms the line Ministry and gvt that there are negotiations when there is virtually nothing. Minister, Mavima, we implore you to tell the nation the truth.
*Parliamentarians* are now aware of hardships faced by teachers. One would expect that other than getting a brief from Minister Matema and listening to his threats, you would urgently call for a meeting with teacher union leaders in an attempt to find an acceptable win-win situation.
*Let parents* be rest assured that we are not interested in incentives that some of you are suggesting. We cannot salivate at such a poisoned carrot that does not add a cent to our pensions and neither does it guarantee uniformity to all teachers. At any rate we are also poor parents who cannot afford to pay incentives to teachers.
*Our dear students* we are trying our level best to urge gvt to create an enabling environment that would see us reporting for work. Sadly, we are meeting dismissal threats and we certainly do not eat threats. You may need to wait longer before you see us unless you and your parents can also intervene to fast track a realistic solution. Our incapacitation struggle has reached a level where it needs to be amplified by every level headed Zimbabwean.
* To dear Teachers* we are merely pursuing what you advised us to do, viz, cement our united front, amplifying our incapacitation and suggesting a possible panacea to the challenges in terms of payment of a living wage and prioritising our health and safety. Your voices are our command and teachers’ poverty is watering our clamour for fair labour practice and restoration of salaries of teachers’ purchasing power parity pegged at US$520-US$550. There is nothing to fear except fear itself. We will continue to be mobilised, recruited, agitated and activated by our marginalisation, disarticulation and penury. Our welfare, health and safety matter.
Its game on, there will be no defeat no surrender. It was our hope that our incapacitation struggle would take a blitzkrieg nature but we may need to budget for arrogance from our gvt more so given threats from the Minister of Education. It is however our hope that next week our incapacitation struggle must reach a decisive phase. Our greatest hope is that gvt will see sense in paying us a living wage so that we can manage to report for work and prepare our students for examination. It is our hope that covid 19 abatement equipment will be in schools and major steps taken to test pupils, teachers and ancillary staff. But if nothing comes our way, we must be hardened in our incapacitation modus operandi. Our collective effort and United Front is our best foot forward. Let every teacher be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Dr Takavafira M. Zhou (Ptuz President)
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